Los Angeles Home Staging Video – Hollywood Condo Staging
February 27, 2010
We staged this Hollywood condo right after returning from the Real Estate Staging Association International Home Staging Conference at the end of January.
When I spoke to the listing agent, she told me that she had received multiple offers after the first open house!
Yay! Home staging in Los Angeles helps sell homes faster.
This was the first home staging video I’ve created using my Flip Camera. Some of my camerawork is lacking. I promise I’ll get better with practice!
Los Angeles Home Staging a Glendora Townhome
February 18, 2010
Today we staged a cute Glendora townhome, located one block from Historic Route 66.
The home owner found Moving Mountains Design as the result of a this Pasadena Home Stager in the Pasadena Star News that appeared last week.
Despite (or maybe because of) her Senior Citizen status, she recognized that home staging is a wonderful tool that could help get her Glendora condo sold.
She is a retired real estate agent, and she told me that she wished “home staging was around when I was selling real estate. How much easier it would have been”.
The home owner put a lot of effort and money into getting her townhome into market ready condition, but hasn’t caught any buyer’s attention….yet. Let’s see if home staging is the magic wand to get this cute Glendora townhouse sold.
This townhome is 1,426 sq. ft. with 3 bedrooms & 3 bathrooms and is listed for $359,000.
For more information about this Glendora townhouse, contact the listing agent, Chris Purkiss at (626)335-8118.
Altadena Home Staging An Occupied Home
February 18, 2010
I was hired to stage a beautiful Altadena home this week.
The homeowners are moving to a larger home to accommodate their growing family. I was called in by the real estate agent to help the homeowners prepare the home for sale, to maximize the size of the rooms, accentuate the beautiful architectural features and give each room a clearly defined purpose.
The formal living room was being used as the master bedroom, which worked fine for them, but might have caused some confusion for potential buyers.
I suggested they move the master bedroom to one of the large, airy bedrooms, and gain a living room in the process.
The piano was moved from the dining room to the living room. It made the dining room feel larger and there was plenty of space in the living room to accommodate a piano.
Here’s a few shots of the bedrooms after staging:
And a lovely vignette shot:
For more information about this beautiful Altadena pool home, contact the listing agent Bettina Rosenfeld, Coldwell Banker, at (626)827-6114.
Los Angeles Home Staging A Hollywood Condo – Multiple Offers After 1st Open House!
February 13, 2010
We were hired to stage this vacant Hollywood Condo by the homeowner, who was also the listing agent.
She chose Moving Mountains Design because we are professional and experienced and because she liked the photos in our home staging portfolio.
The condo was vacant after having been rented to tenants for some time. The REALTOR wisely put a lot of energy and effort getting the condo into market condition. She did everything right to get it sold:
- She hired an experienced, professional home stager to make the condo more appealing to buyers
- She priced it right
- She marketed it well
For more information about this Hollywood Blvd. adjacent condo, contact the listing agent, Judy Oroshnik, Prudential California Realty, at (323)671-1248.
Los Angeles Home Staging – San Dimas Home Is Staged to Sell & Sells Quickly!
February 2, 2010
Two weeks ago, we were asked to do a home staging consultation on a San Dimas home by the listing agent, Lorelle Kitzmiller, Dickson Podley Real Estate.
The homeowners were very willing to follow all the recommendations included in the home staging consultation. We staged the home using the homeowners’ own furniture, plus a small amount of rental furniture. Also included in the staging package was a van load of artwork, accessories, silk plants and premium linens.
I was just informed by Lorelle that the home has received multiple offers with more coming in. This is really exciting news for us! This San Dimas home went into escrow exactly 2 weeks after we staged and 12 days after the first open house!
Here’s some before and after photos:
San Dimas living room before home staging
San Dimas Living Room After Home Staging by Moving Mountains Design
Family Room Before Home Staging
We repurposed a love seat, chair and ottoman from the living room to replace the oversized leather sofa and loveseat that resided in the family room. The leather furniture was donated. The homeowner’s reaction? “Why didn’t we do this years ago?”
San Dimas Family Room After Staging by Moving Mountains Design
For more information about this beautiful San Dimas home, contact the listing agent Lorelle Kitzmiller at (626)408-1429 (MLS#A10007964)
Los Angeles Home Stager Voted RESA 2010 Professional Stager of the Year!
February 2, 2010
I’m very excited to announce that I have been voted the Real Estate Staging Association (RESA) 2010 Professional Stager of the Year!
The announcement was made at the RESA 2010 International Stagers Conference in Las Vegas on January 25, 2010. The conference was a smashing success, and I’m so happy I got to share my big moment with over 200 of my fellow home stagers. Its a HUGE honor to have been selected for this award by my home staging peers.
Professional home stagers were nominated by home stagers and real estate professionals throughout the US, Canada, Europe and Australia.
The nominees were then voted on by members of the Real Estate Staging Association and 5 finalists were selected.
Each finalist had to create a 5 page entry which demonstrated excellence in home staging, best home staging business practices, a proven track record of ethical conduct and commitment to raising awareness about home staging.
The winner (me:o)) was selected from the 5 finalists by a panel of celebrity real estate and home staging judges.
The judges were Bethany Souza from HGTV’s Designed to Sell, Matthew Finlason from HGTV’s The Stagers, and Womens Council of Realtors National President, Deborah Gilmore.
Click here if you’d like to see my winning entry for Professional Stager of the Year Pro Stager of the Year 2010.
Click here to read the press release
Listen To Your Home Stager – Part 2
January 18, 2010
Today was the first open house for our home staging project in South Pasadena.
I spoke to the listing agent after the open house and he was ecstatic. Despite the rain, he had a great turn-out and the comments were overwhelmingly positive. He said he got many comments about how the home appeared move-in ready (top on my list of the comments I want to hear about a home I stage) and how pretty everything was.
Dining Room before home staging
The dining room had too much furniture, and the furniture wasn’t really suited to the style of the house.
Dining Room after home staging by Moving Mountains Design
A fast recap of this home staging project:
The listing agent hired me for a home staging consultation on his South Pasadena listing. I met with him and his clients and we discussed everything I felt needed to be done to get this home ready to sell. The homeowners and listing agent were diligent about doing everything on the list, and they got it done in record time. The clients moved out, the house was repainted, re-carpeted, and cleaned over the course of a week!
Living Room before home staging
The living room furniture was too casual. It was better suited to a family room.
Living Room after home staging by Moving Mountains Design
Here’s the family room transformation:
Family Room before home staging
There was so much furniture, I wasn’t able to take the before and after shots from the same angle!
Family Room after home staging by Moving Mountains Design
Looking at the photos, I almost can’t believe its the same house or how quickly it was transformed.
Listen To Your Home Stager
January 16, 2010
Over the past few weeks we’ve done several home staging consultations in Los Angeles and Pasadena.
In 2 cases, the listing agents paid for the consultation and both agree it was a great investment based upon the transformations that resulted. In both instances I suggested repainting and new carpet. In both cases the interior of the homes had not been painted in several years and the paint looked tired and soiled. And in both of the homes the carpet had become so soiled and worn that it was not salvageable.
I’m happy to report that both homeowners made the investment to get their San Dimas and South Pasadena homes sold quickly and repainted the interiors and recarpeted.
I’ll be posting pictures of the South Pasadena home we staged later today (we haven’t staged the San Dimas house yet) so you can see what a difference listening to your home stager can make. But in the mean time, here’s some before and mid-way photos of how the South Pasadena home we staged was transformed by new paint and carpet.
Here’s the before shot:
South Pasadena Living Room before home staging
Now here’s the living room mid-transformation after completing the suggest work in the home staging consultation:
South Pasadena Living Room mid-transformation
BTW, the paint color is Sherwin Williams #7571 Casa Blanca, which is a very soft golden tan.
Stay tuned for more pictures!
Staging A Business – A Hollywood Advertising Agency Office Makeover
November 8, 2009
This week I was called to makeover a Hollywood advertising agency office.
I was given 2.5 days to shop and install new furniture, artwork & accessories for the reception area, conference room, kitchen, a big open workroom with 8 computer stations, hallways & restrooms. In addition, one office was converted into a lounge/game room.
This Emmy Award winning agency, is bidding against some “big boys” for some exciting new clients. They wanted to make over the look of their offices to better reflect their abilities and talent.
Conference Room Before "Business Staging"
Conference Room After "Business Staging"
As you can see, I replaced the mixed chairs (that sent mixed messages), moved a movie poster (into the game room) and “requisitioned” 2 mirrors from other rooms to give the conference room a sophisticated “we’ve got it going on and we can handle anything you throw at us” look.
Adding a beautiful succulent arrangement and a few well edited mid-century pottery pieces to the entertainment center, ties the room together.
Office Before Conversion to Game Room
Game Room Lounge After "Business Staging" (60" LCD TV to come)
I closed off a door at one end of the room to give us more useable space to create the game room/lounge.
The two black leather sofas were repurposed from the entry and the conference room, as was the coffee table. The book shelf was moved to the opposite end of the room, and a large painting was used to hide the second door. The movie poster from the conference room was moved into this game room where its more appropriate. A 60″ LCD TV will be installed tomorrow. The repurposed coffee table supplies lots of space for the TV, gaming consoles, and various other electronics.
Reception Area Before "Business Staging"
Reception Area After "Business Staging" By Moving Mountains Design
The reception area was rather uninspiring before it was staged by Moving Mountains.
Now its tastefully furnished with some personality and fun pops of color.
Here’s another shot of the reception area:
Another Shot Of The Reception Area After "Business Staging"
This is just one example of what this Los Angeles home stager can do with a modest budget and a tight schedule.
Home Staging An Occupied Los Angeles Cottage in Silverlake
October 25, 2009
We had great success staging this 1920’s cottage in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles.
The home owners received multiple offers over listing price during the first week the home was on the market.
Occupied home staging can sometimes be a little tricky.
The home stager has often has to use the home owners’ existing furniture and take into account the lifestyle of all the occupants. In this particular case, the home owners’ have 2 active teenage sons and a dog.
Silverlake Living Room Before Home Staging
Silverlake Living Room After Home Staging
I did a home staging consultation for the home owners about a month before the house was scheduled to be listed on the MLS.
As part of the Occupied Home Staging Consultation I gave the home owners the following information:
- Furniture and personal items to be removed
- Areas to be de-cluttered
- A new furniture layout plan
- Recommended paint colors
- Recommended a Los Angeles moving & storage company, Northstar Moving, that could store their excess furniture and personal items until the house was sold. Northstar will also be moving their furniture once escrow closes.
- Discussed items that needed to be repaired
- Recommended some cost effective ways to update the kitchen and make it more appealing
Here are before and after pictures of the kitchen update:
Cottage kitchen before home staging
Cottage Kitchen After Home Staging Updates
Cottage kitchen before home staging
Cottage Kitchen After Home Staging Updates
Besides decluttering, notice the new cabinet hardware, new paint, new tile countertop and open shelf above the sink (the cabinet doors were removed to create the shelf).
The home owners were a dream to work with. They took all the information in the comprehensive home staging consultation and ran with it. They completed all the work themselves on time and within their budget. Moving Mountains Design provided artwork and accessories and I photographed the house a few days before listing on the MLS. We emailed the photos to the home owner and the listing agent (who did a fantastic job, by the way) the photos for use in the MLS listing, on-line marketing and print brochures.
Dining Room Before Home Staging
Cottage Dining Room After Home Staging
For more information about our Comprehensive Home Staging Consultation or Occupied Home Staging please call Michelle Minch (626)441-8975 or contact us via email
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